Gas-producer.



No. 674,887. Patented May 28,'I90l. J. 0. E. TRUTZ.

GAS PRODUCER.

(Application med Nov. 8, 1900.; (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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'Patented may 2a, lsol. J. `(l. E. TRDTZ. V(AS PRODUCER.

(Application filed Nov. 8, -1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

Aia-1.55555 -7 ITT/17.432111? IINTTED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHAN OTTO EMANUEL TROTZ, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

GAS-PRODUCER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,887, dated May 28,1901.

Application filed November 8, 1900. Serial No. 35,780. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concer-lo:

Be it known that I, JOHAN Orro EMANUEL TROTZ, of the city and county ofWorcester, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Gas- Producers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of thisspecification, and in which- Figure l represents a central verticalsection, partly in elevation, of a gas-producer embodying myimprovements, said section being taken at the point indicated by line o,in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 represents, upon an enlarged scale, a plan of theparts of the producer to which said invention relates, with thecoaldistributer left off to more clearly show the construction of thereceptacle in which it is arranged; and Fig. 3 represents, upon the sameenlarged scale as Fig. 2, a vertical section in front of the inner endof the coal-dis tributer, showing in dotted lines an inner end View ofsaid distributer.

The object of my invention is to provide a gas-producer whereby the coalmay be distributed evenly and of uniform depth over the Wholegrate-surface; and it consists of a distributor comprising a series ofhelicallyarranged radial longitudinal webs or blades made narrower attheir inner than their outer ends, said distributor being arrangedhorizontally and radially to the center of the pro ducer and mounted ona shaft fitted to turn on a rotary cover having means for supporting andturning it and also combined with a box or receptacle, in which it isarranged, embodying certain features whereby in connection with thedistributer the aforesaid even distribution of coal is facilitated.

My invention also consists in the combination of said distributer andreceptacle with the old parts of the producer, as will be hereinaftermore fully set forth.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains tobetter understand the nature and purpose thereof, I will now proceed todescribe it more in detail.

In the drawings, A represents the vertical walls of the producer; B, therotary cover thereof previously alluded to; C, the coaldistributer, alsomounted on said cover; D, the coal-chute for conducting the coal to saiddistributer; E, the grate; F, the blast-pipe for introducing the airunder said grate, and G the discharge-duct for conducting the gas fromthe producer.

The parts H represent a series of vertical radially-arranged pokers,which, in connection with their operating mechanism, constitutes thesubject-matter of another separate application for improvements ingas-pio ducers, filed in the Patent Office by me June 1S, 1900, andbearing Serial No. 20,625. Only a brief description of said pokers andtheir operating mechanism will therefore be necessary in the presentcase.

The Vertical wall A of the producer, which is circular in practice, iscapped by a metal plate A', upon which are mounted a series ofvertically-arranged Wheels b and a toothed rack c. Said circularcap-plate also has formed at its inner edge au annular trough d toreceive an annular Vertical flange e on a horizontal plate e to form awater seal when said trough d is filled with Water. The wheels ZJ are inpractice arranged about equidistant apart in a circular line around thetop of plate A' and are itted to turn in suitable bearings on saidplate. The cover B is adapted to rest and turn upon said series ofwheels b, being provided upon its under side with an annular groove f,in which the peripheries of the wheels fit and turn when the cover isr0- tated thereon. Said rotation may be performed in any suitable andconvenient manner. In this instance the outer circular edge of the coveris provided with a toothed rack B, extending entirely around itscircumference, which engages with a horizontally-arranged gear g, ittedto turn in suitable bearings and driven by any suitable drivingmechanism Which may be connected therewith. Said gear g being small, aslow rotary movement is imparted to the cover B and parts mountedthereon, and by said rotation the distributer C is also rotated in thefollowing manner: Upon the shaft O' of said distributer is mounted abevel-gear I, which engages with the annular toothed rack c on plate A'.It is therefore obvious that when the cover B is rotated, as aforesaid,said bevel-gear I IOO being caused to travel over said rockc causes itto be turned, and thereby turns the distributer.

It is apparent that since the coal is depos ited in circles by therotation of the cover upon which the distributer is mounted and thatsince the diameter of the grate-surface increases from the center out aproportionate amount of coal, increasing from the center to the outsideof said grate-surface, must be deposited thereon to evenly distributethe same overits whole surface, or, in other words, the coal must bedeposited in greater quantity and more rapidly at the outer edge of thegratesurface than at any point toward its center,on account of thegreater diameter or circular dis` tance to be traversed and covered thanat points nearer the center. In order that the distribution of coal maybe thus graduated from a light deposit at the center of the gratesurfaceand gradually increasing in volume to the outer edgethereof, I make thelongitudinal webs or blades C2 of the distributer narrow at their innerends near the vertical center of the producer and gradually increas ingin width from said point to their outer ends, thus forming pockets forthe reception of the. coal between said blades or webs very shallow atthe inner end of the distributer and increasing in depth and capacitytoward the outer end thereof, as is fully shown in the drawings. By thisconstruction it is obvious thatV as the coal is deposited from the chuteD onto the distributer it is in turn discharged from said distributeronto the grate-surface in gradually-increasing quantity from the centerto the outside of said grate-surface, and in consequence an evendistribution or deposit of uniform depth is constantly maintained overthe whole grate-surface. To facilitate said uniform distribution of thecoal, the blades of the distributer are arranged radially andhelical-shaped, as is shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, and acone-shaped receptacle or box J is formed at the bottom of chute D,conforming in shape to the general contour of the distributer, in whichthe distributor is arranged, and having an opening J for the dischargeof the coal therefrom into the combustion-chamber K of the producer. Thecoal is not discharged directly from the distributer into the producer,but is first deposited on the bottom curved surface J2 of the receptacleor box J and from there pushed by the blades of the distributor into theproducer. The coal discharged from chute D onto the distributor lies inthe pockets thereof between its helically-shaped biades C2 and the innercircular surface of receptacle J until the edge of each blade arrives atthe discharge-opening J', when it is gradually pushed by the rotation ofthe distributer from the surface J 2 into the combustion-chamber of theproducer, as aforesaid. The radial blades C2 being helically-shaped andarranged as previously described, one part of one blade will be pushingthe coal from a certain point on the surface J2 while another part ofanother blade will at the same time be pushing said coal from anotherpoint on said surface J2. Said blades ofthe distributer and thereceptacle J are in practice so constructed and arranged in relation toeach other that a constant even discharge is maintained throughout thelength of the distributer,with an increase in quantity, of course, aspreviously described, from the inner to the outer end of saiddistributer. Assuming that the inner narrow end of one of the blades C2arrives at the opening J', the spiral or helicalshaped edge thereof atonce commences to push the thin layer of coal at said end through saidopening, and as the distributor contin ues to rotate the edge of a widerand still wider part of the blade arrives at the opening, andconsequently a gradual increase in the discharge of the coal iseffected, as aforesaid. Before the edge of each blade at its outer endor widest part has passed by the edge of opening J' the inner narrow endof the next succeeding blade has come into action for discharging thecoal,and consequently a constant uniform discharge is maintained,as alsopreviouslystated. While the coal is being thus deposited over thegrate-surface, it is necessary in order to obtain a perfect combustionthereof to poke said coal in some manner while it is being thusdeposited. This operation has commonly been done by the attendants byhand, although some mechanical devices for this purpose have been used.In my improved producer I propose in practice to do said pokingmechanically and by automatic mechanism connected with the pokers H,previously referred to. Said poking mechanism, as also previouslystated, constitutes the subjectmatter of a separate application, and itwill therefore be unnecessary to give more than the following generaldescription thereof to make clear the purpose and advantages of myimproved distributing device.

Vertical intermittent reciprocating movements are imparted to the pokersH independent of the rotary motion of cover B by means of thevertically-arranged pneumatic cylinders L, which are arranged in lineradially to the vertical center of the producer, each poker being anextension of the pistou L of each cylinder, and each is operatedindependently and at different speeds by mechanism substantially alike.The cylinders and their pokers being arranged in a radial line, asaforesaid, it is obvious that the circumference of the circle whicheachtraverses increases from the inner to the outer one.A Therefore theinner pokers do not have to be operated as many times in each rotationas the outer ones in poking4 the coal, at equal distances apart, and aretherefore operated at longer intervals between each downward stroke thansaid outer ones. The speed of the stroke itself may be the same for allof them; but the interval between said strokes rmust be reduced less andless in proportion to the increase in IOO IIO

the circumferential distance that each poker has to travel at eachrevolution of cover B, each poker being designed to punch the coal thesame distance apart-about one foot apart in practice. The pokers H arearranged to be thus operated in the following manner: Pneumatic pressureis applied to each sepa rate cylinder L to operate its respective pistonL and poker H by means of conducting pipes M, which may be connectedwith any suitable source of supply. In this instance it is shown asbeing supplied from a combined air and water pipe comprising the innerwater-pipe N and the outer air-pipe N', having a distributing device Ocombined therewith, into which the air and water flows and isdistributed-the air through the pipe P to a pipe Q, with which the pipesM connect, and the water through a pipe R to a pipe S, from whichconnection is made by rubber tubing T with the upper end of a pipe U,which in practice extends down through each piston and poker to cool thesame, the water thus introduced flowing up and out at the top through adischarge-pipe V.

The supply of air and Water to the cylinders for independently operatingtheir pistons and the pokers at different speeds, as and for the purposepreviously described, may be regulated in various ways, and as I make noclaim thereto it is deemed unnecessary to describe the same.

It will at once be apparent to those skilled in the art to which myinvention appertains that by the use of an automatic distributer such asherein shown and described,whereby a uniform depth of coal-bed is alwaysmaintained over the entire grate-snrface when properly poked, asaforesaid, during the period of deposit, a very perfect combustion iseffected and maintained during the whole time the producer is inoperation. Consequently a superior quality ofgas is produced and at aminimum expenditure in stock and labor, aside from the advantage ofreducing the liability to injury of the Workmenby employing mechanicaland automatic mechanism for both the distribution of the coal and thepoking thereof.

Having now described'my invention, what I claim therein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a gas-producer having a stationary grate and rotary cover, thecoal-chute and the receptacle at the bottom thereof mounted on saidrotary cover, and having a con e-shaped interior; also provided with adischargeopening at the bottom and a curved surface to hold the coaluntil pushed therefrom through said opening into the producer-chamber,in combination with the rotary, cone-shaped distributer, arranged insaid rotary receptacle. over said discharge -opening, and provided witha series ofradial, helical or spiral shaped blades made narrower inwidth at their inner than their outer ends and with the edge of one endof each blade substantially in longitudinal alinement with the edge ofthe opposite end of the next adjoining blade, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

2. In a gas-producer having a stationary grate, the body, the rotarycover, the rotary chute, the receptacle at the bottom thereof mounted onsaid rotary cover and made con eshaped upon the interior, also providedwith a discharge-opening at the bottom, and a curved surface to hold thecoal until pushed therefrom into said opening, in combination with therotary, coneshaped distributer, arranged in said rotary receptacle oversaid discharge-opening, and provided with a series of radial, helical orspiral shaped blades made narrower in width at their inner than theirouter ends and with the edge of one end of each blade substantially inlongitudinal alinement with the edge of the opposite end of the nextadjoining blade, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHAN OTT() EMANUEL TltO'lZ.

Witnesses:

A. A. BARKER, E. N. BARKER.

